All Stories by Emily Conover
- Physics
Here’s the physics of why ducklings swim in a row behind their mother
By paddling in just the right spots, ducklings save energy by surfing their mom’s waves, and pass along the benefit to siblings down the line.
- Physics
An atomic clock measured how general relativity warps time across a millimeter
A record-breaking result reveals the precision achievable by atomic clocks, letting researchers detect slightly faster ticking over a tiny height change.
- Physics
Work on complex systems, including Earth’s climate, wins the physics Nobel Prize
Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on computer simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi found hidden patterns in disordered complex materials.
- Quantum Physics
Scientists are one step closer to error-correcting quantum computers
In a quantum computer made with trapped ions, multiple quantum bits were combined into one to detect mistakes.
- Physics
Whirling maple seeds inspired these tiny flying sensors
Scientists envision that small objects modeled after maple tree whirligigs could be used to monitor the environment.
- Quantum Physics
One of nature’s key constants is much larger in a quantum material
The fine-structure constant is 10 times its normal value in the material, giving a peek into what physics in an alternate universe could look like.
- Physics
New ‘vortex beams’ of atoms and molecules are the first of their kind
Twisted beams of atoms and molecules join other types of corkscrew beams made of light or electrons.
- Physics
Physicists caught protons ‘surfing’ on shock waves
A laser experiment could help scientists understand how protons reach high energies traveling through the cosmos.
- Physics
With a powerful laser blast, scientists near a nuclear fusion milestone
A National Ignition Facility experiment spawned nuclear fusion reactions that released nearly as much energy as was used to ignite them.
- Physics
Windbreaks, surprisingly, could help wind farms boost power output
Wind farm performance could be improved by 10 percent by using low barriers to increase the wind speed directed at the turbines, simulations suggest.
- Physics
Colliding photons were spotted making matter. But are the photons ‘real’?
Smashups of particles of light creating electrons and positrons could demonstrate the physics of Einstein’s equation E=mc2.
- Particle Physics
How particle detectors capture matter’s hidden, beautiful reality
Old and new detectors trace the whirling paths of subatomic particles.
